The old saying states that the third time is the charm. This weekend, the No. 2 Penn State men's gymnastics squad will be hoping that the 12th time will instead be the charm.

At 7 p.m. tomorrow and Saturday, the Nittany Lions will compete in the Big Ten Championships in St. John Arena in Columbus, Ohio, looking to capture their first Big Ten crown in the program's history.

While the Lions come into the meet with a perfect 16-0 record and a mark of 6-0 in the Big Ten, and could be labeled as favorites heading into the competition, winning the crown is anything but guaranteed. The five remaining Big Ten squads are also all ranked in the top ten nationally, and all have the capability to hit routines when the pressure is on.

"There is no question that this is the toughest conference in the country," Penn State men's gymnastics coach Randy Jepson said. "The Big Ten is always fiercely competitive from top to bottom each year and whoever does the best job as a team and takes care of themselves will win. Right now it's really anybody's ball game."

The biggest challenge for the Lions figures to be No. 3 Ohio State Buckeyes, which is competing at home and just starting to make an impressive charge to the head of the gymnastics world. While senior Raj Bhavsar has been out from competition due to a shoulder injury, he made an impressive comeback last weekend against No. 6 Michigan, winning the all-around with a 55.05. Additionally, the defending champs will also count on the services of sophomore Randy Monahan and senior Dick Huntwork, both currently ranked in the top twenty nationally.

"Ohio State is always a top team," Jepson said. "It will be difficult this year to win with Ohio State being on their home floor, and I am sure that their coach Miles Avery will have them at their best. Hopefully, though if we are at our best, we will do well."

For the Lions, being at their best involves several different components, such as hitting pommel horse, a tough event all season, and receiving impressive performances from senior Kevin Donohue and freshman Luis Vargas. Donohue, the defending Big Ten champion on parallel bars and high bar, has won six all-around titles this season, and is nominated for the prestigious Nissen-Emery Award, along with Bhavsar. Vargas, currently ranked fifth nationally in the all-around, also ranks in the top ten on high bar and parallel bars, giving the Lions a strong one-two punch.

When senior Jose Palacios, junior Kevin Tan, and the rest of the squad are thrown into the mix, the Lions may look unstoppable, something that can be quite deceiving.

"Anything can happen this weekend," Jepson said.

"Michigan has the potential to surprise everyone and may have all of their guys back at full strength. Minnesota is always strong and has won before so they know what it takes, and they have Clay Strother and Guillermo Alvarez who are incredibly talented. Illinois has good talent but is quite young right now, so I don't know if there really can be any favorites in this meet."

While Jepson may be reticent to consider the Lions prohibitive favorites, the squad does have several things working in its favor, namely parallels with the 2000 NCAA Championship squad.

Even though that squad finished next to last at Big Tens that year, Jepson says the confidence and talent levels of the teams are about equal.

"The 2000 squad was a group of underachievers till they won, and this team has been steady all year and has yet to have a great meet," Jepson said. "Also, like the 2000 squad we were not on top of the confidence game at the beginning of the season, but that has steadily grown and we feel as confident as we were then going into the NCAA's."

If the Lions do prevail, there is no doubt that 12 will be their new lucky number.